Does anyone else reply conversations and thoughts in their head repeatedly?

Just wondered if anyone else struggles with replaying and analyzing conversations, thoughts, interactions, intentions repeatedly in their head?

Its driving me mad and I don't know how to switch it off or how to stop thinking... its like I have lost all sense of what is true and real and can't trust my own judgement anymore... so anything I see or hear gets over churned in my brain trying to make sense of it all.

I avoid contact with people as I just don't have the head space anymore... for all the thoughts, anxieties etc that come with the extra interaction. I'm beginning to think I've had some sort of a breakdown as something has snapped, I used to understand, be able to trust my own judgement. Now I am in a constant state of turmoil.

Sorry maybe I'm not making any sense! Anyway not sure if its just me but wondered if anyone else has a similar problem?

I do that all the time. I sometimes have a thought that hasnt happened just say hmmm replying to a post on here i will over analyse what I woyld say etc even though its not true and i often struggle to determine that its not real or not happened. Tonight I spent over an hour anf a half in the bath over analysing certain thoughts and events I dont remember what it is I thought about but when I came back to reality I just couldnt get to grips that I was in the bath anf not where my thought was. I dont know if this is how you feel or whether it makes any sense but yeah.

yeah, every conversation I have, every conversation I might have over the next few days, every potential argument, transaction, everything that I said or could potentially say is played over in my head over and over. For days.

Lots of people do, I'm sure. After all, pretty well everyone thinks back on something someone said to them and thinks, "Gee, I should've said XXX in reply to that!"

It's hard sometimes to just let go of things that have happened, and they replay over and over. (For me, that's often worse at night.) Perhaps it would help to just try to accept that the past can't be changed. If we can't change something there's no point dwelling on it. We can't predict the future either, so the best we can do is be in the present as much as possible.

yeah, every conversation I have, every conversation I might have over the next few days, every potential argument, transaction, everything that I said or could potentially say is played over in my head over and over. For days.

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me too!
I have whole screenplays going on in my head with what might happen..how it could have been..etc,,??

I've done this all my looong life and what a waste of time it is..
always worse the more stress I'm under..
councilor said ''mindfulness'' would help but I can't seem to get the hang of it..
feels better to know I'm not alone with this but don't wish it on anyone..
:grouphug:

Talking to people is very unnatural for me. I know this. As a result, if I have prior knowledge that I will have to talk someone about a specific thing soon, I will fantasize about what the conversation might entail and how I will respond to the questions. I rehearse the conversation before it happens, taking into account a series of branches it might take, creating redundancies, failsafes, backups, exit strategies. Then it happens and everything goes pear shaped as usual because things didn't go as expected or rehearsed. I will then debrief myself on the contents of the conversation and second guess every single word I said, repeatedly. It's... not good.

Oh no... I am so sorry you all struggle too, its so frustrating and exhausting and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

But phew its reassuring to know I'm not the only one! Like the chicken and the egg scenario, I'm not sure if its the result of my social anxiety or the cause... but I know if I could get it to stop I'd be a new person. I struggle to sleep at night with all the Re-runs in my head.

Just wait until you get to be my age and you're replaying conversations you had 30 years ago. I'll relive conversations I had in high school to the point that I'm talking out loud, mostly when no one is around. Sometimes I'll accidentally start whispering in public though and that gets weird looks so I stop. It must look really psycho, lol. Sometimes when I'm replaying conversations in my head on public transit a complete stranger will say something like, "You look deep in thought", or "You look like a deep thinker" or "You look very pensive". I must have a very intense look about me sometimes. I guess it makes me look interesting as long as I don't actually start talking to myself, lol.

I do this too. I also make up whole new conversations. The worst part is sometimes I forget which interactions are real and which ones I made up. A couple times I ended up having to ask my husband if we actually talk about a subject or not. Its horrible because it makes me not want to talk to our friends because of fear I will bring up a conversation that didn't actually happen.

I tend to analyze situations in my head to an extent and it kind of just annoys me when I do it. My mind will drift and I'll just start thinking about some fantasy situation.

My biggest problem I have comes when I try to analyze something like a text message. Because of the lack of tone, I have trouble detecting sarcasm or how the sentence is formed. Also with a lack of facial expressions and seeing the other person I sometimes assume that they're at their worst and angry at me. If a response is very short and vague like a "K" or "alright", I assume they're angry at me when in reality it could be different. Even though I know it may not be true, I can't get the idea of it out of my head.

I've been doing this for well over 20 years, recalling past conversations with other people and my own self. I've spent so many years deducing the hundreds of possible different outcomes of said conversations, and bringing my own disappointment into the mix of having realized what could have been if I said this, or what if I said that.

Then I realized, no matter what I may say in a conversation, it will always have the same outcome. Unfortunately, they are always the same outcomes that I never wanted in the first place.

I also replay the same thoughts in my mind almost everyday and talk to myself as if I'm talking to another person. I don't make it known to others, though. I'm already seen as psychotic enough as it is. No need to make it worse.

I have imaginary conversations in my head.... but thats probabally just from being alone most of my day... i do replay convos and stuff, but i tend to have imaginary ones with normal people more often :blink: